Chapter 15 - The Board Chooses
Adrian’s arrest did not automatically give Charlotte control.
Solmere still had a board.
Several members had benefited from the old system.
Some had accepted questionable consulting payments.
Others simply feared Charlotte would destroy the company through scandal.
An emergency vote was scheduled.
Charlotte entered the boardroom knowing she could legally remove many of them.
She chose not to.
Not yet.
She wanted to know who would reveal themselves.
Lucien Laurent spoke first.
“Solmere needs stability.”
Charlotte almost smiled.
Powerful people used that word whenever truth became inconvenient.
Lucien proposed appointing an outside restructuring executive.
He would temporarily control operations.
Charlotte would remain ceremonial chairwoman.
Daniel whispered.
“He’s trying to remove you without saying it.”
Charlotte nodded.
Lucien continued.
“You are young.”
“You have no experience running an international hospitality company.”
Charlotte waited until he finished.
Then she placed a folder in front of every director.
It contained payments linked to Laurent-controlled companies.
Lucien stopped talking.
Charlotte addressed the room.
“You are right about one thing.”
“I cannot run every hotel department.”
“No owner can.”
“That is why competent executives exist.”
She looked around the table.
“But competence and corruption are not the same thing.”
She announced the appointment of an independent interim chief executive.
Elena Park.
A respected hospitality executive with no previous Solmere ties.
Then Charlotte proposed a full forensic audit.
Independent compliance oversight.
Employee whistleblower protection.
And removal of every director tied to Account 1816.
Lucien laughed.
“You don’t have enough votes.”
Charlotte looked at Daniel.
He slid Eleanor’s succession declaration across the table.
“With the original trust reinstated, Ms. Vale controls fifty-one percent.”
Lucien went silent.
Charlotte looked directly at him.
“I do.”
The vote began.
One by one, directors tied to the conspiracy were removed.
Lucien was last.
He pushed back his chair.
“You have destroyed your mother’s legacy.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“No.”
“I’m removing the people who were destroying it.”
He left.
Afterward, Charlotte remained alone in Eleanor’s chair.
Elena Park entered.
“You know this will get worse before it gets better.”
Charlotte nodded.
“Stock price?”
“Probably down.”
“Press?”
“Brutal.”
“Partners?”
“Some will leave.”
Charlotte looked through the glass wall toward the hotel below.
“Employees?”
Elena smiled slightly.
“They’re waiting to see whether you mean what you said.”
May you like
Charlotte stood.
“Then that’s where we start.”
